Everlasting

 

Heh! This fellow wants me to pull out the sword. As expected, he bears ill will towards me. Chen Feng sneered inwardly.

“If you can really pull out the sword, you will have a humongous harvest. It will be far more valuable than those spiritual herbs that you’ve dug out earlier,” Tower said.

“It is as this fellow mentioned earlier, only the destined person can pull it out. I doubt I am this destined person,” Chen Feng replied with a smile.

“Hey, with me here, you will become that destined person! Besides, you must try it out before knowing whether or not you can succeed,” Tower said.

“Fine. In that case, I will give it a shot.” After hearing Tower’s words, Chen Feng felt tempted.

Chen Feng slowly landed on the stone platform at the centre of the pool. He felt the chaotic streams of demonic energy around him becoming viscous in quality. Lesser cultivators would most likely end up becoming demonic humans as a result.

Only after landing on the stone platform did Chen Feng get to truly see how the stone platform looked like. It wasn’t quite accurate to call it a stone platform. Chen Feng could not identify the materials used to create the platform. Appearance wise, it was not made of rocks, metals, wood or even jade. At any rate, Chen Feng simply did not know.

The stone platform had a radius of up to 10 zhang and was engraved with various strange-looking symbols. In the centre position, a sword hilt could be seen sticking out. The hilt flashed with a dark-black lustre.

“This stone platform contains five elemental materials. Someone had used their magic power to refine it. At the centre is the key object sealing this Demon King. If someone pulls out this sword, the sealed Demon King will be able to escape,” Tower said.

“Does he want me to pull this sword out and release the sealed Demon King? However, why didn’t Thunder Hegemon do it himself? Or is he right in saying that only the destined person can pull out this sword? I, for one, don’t buy it,” Chen Feng said with a sneer.

“Ha ha! Naturally, that is not the case. Look, is Thunder Hegemon coming down?” Tower said, laughing out.

Only then did Chen Feng realize that Thunder Hegemon did not come down with him. Instead, he had stopped, hovering above a nearby mountain as he observed Chen Feng.

“Could it be? He cannot approach?” The thought flashed across Chen Feng’s mind.

“Ha ha ha! That’s right! He is the Demon King’s clone. How can he approach the magic treasure sealing him?” Tower laughed.

“This is why he lured me over to pull out this sword. However, how can he be certain that I can pull out this sword?” Chen Feng did not understand.

“Hey, hey, do you really fancy yourself as the destined person now? Do you think you are the only one to ever set foot here? By my estimate, many human cultivators have been lured over by this Demon King’s clone before. However, none of them has ever succeeded!”

“If so, where are they?” Chen Feng’s eyes flashed with light.

“Regardless if they can succeed or not, the result is death,” Tower said with a chuckle.

“If so, what should we do? Should I pull this sword out?” Chen Feng said, glancing at the distant Thunder Hegemon.

By Chen Feng’s estimate, if he were to retreat now, Thunder Hegemon would certainly attack him. As he possessed the Longevity Tower, Chen Feng was not afraid of Thunder Hegemon. However, if he were to take this sword with him, the sealed Demon King would break free. Should that happen, he can forget about leaving.

“Naturally, you must take it. Although this sword is not that good, it will still be somewhat helpful towards you. Besides, even if you pull this sword out, it will take this Demon King some time to break free. There will be enough time for you to escape,” Tower said.

“A Demon King breaking loose. He will definitely carve a bloody path into Eternal World. How many disasters would result from that?” Chen Feng was hesitant.

“Kid, why are you so naïve? Do you think there are no one else in Eternal World? Do you think there are no one in Extreme Celestial Sect? Forget this pleb of a Demon King, even if a higher-levelled demonic beast goes to Eternal World, that demonic beast would only face certain death,” Tower said disdainfully.

“Yes, Extreme Celestial Sect has Human Immortals. There is no need for a minor character like me to worry about something like this.” Chen Feng nodded his head.

“What do I do now? Do I just step forward and pull out the sword?” asked Chen Feng, who strode forward to look at the black sword hilt.

“You can try.” Tower encouraged him.

Chen Feng hesitated for a moment before reaching his hand out to grasp the sword hilt. Next, a fierce and thunderous power flowed through his hand to bombard him.

“Argh!”

Chen Feng cried out wretchedly and his body was launched into the air before falling into the Demonic Spirit Fountain. When Chen Feng crawled out from the Demonic Spirit Fountain, it was revealed that the incident had charred and damaged every part of his magic robes. A scorched scent was also coming out from his flesh.

As Chen Feng was hastily unravelling the paralysis gripping his body, he cursed at Tower. “Tower, you did that on purpose didn’t you? You wanted to see me miserable, is that it?”

“Gya ha ha ha ha ha!” Seeing Chen Feng’s wretched appearance, Tower spontaneously broke into a fit of laughter.

“You only have yourself to blame for being too hasty. This is neither a Magic artefact nor a Prized artefact. This is a Sacred artefact! Even after cultivating up to the Sky Human stage, you can forget about resisting the power of this sword,” said Tower as he laughed.

“What should be done, then? Wait, do you mean to say you have a plan?” Chen Feng asked.

“It is just a minor Sacred artefact,” Tower said scornfully.

“There is a Demonic Spirit Fountain here. It is suitable for cultivation. For now, do not rush to pull out the sword,” Tower said. Next, a potent suction force emerged from Chen Feng’s Heavenly Origin acupoint, which went all the way down towards the Demonic Spirit Fountain beneath the stone platform.

Woah! Woah!

Streams of the fountain water, the condensed form of spiritual energy, shot out from the Demonic Spirit Fountain to flow into Chen Feng’s Heavenly Origin acupoint and into the Longevity Tower.

“All right. As it so happens, my Demonic Heavengorging Art has improved as well. Hopefully, this Demonic Spirit Fountain can allow me to break through.” Chen Feng sat down cross-legged on the stone platform and began cultivating.

Seeing Chen Feng sit down on the stone platform to cultivate, the eyes of the distant Thunder Hegemon glinted with a ferocious light. Even after the ferocious light had disappeared, his eyes continued to shine faintly as he constantly gazed at Chen Feng. A trace of doubt appeared on his face.

“It really is the Demonic Heavengorging Art. How strange! He is clearly a human cultivator. How could he possess the Demonic Heavengorging Art? What is most puzzling is that he can actually practice it. Why didn’t his body blow up as a result?” Thunder Hegemon mumbled.

“I wonder if this kid can pull out this Demon Sealing Sword. However, according to my divination, I will be able to escape soon. Judging by the various signs, this fellow should be the one.” Light flashed across Thunder Hegemon’s eyes.

“I want to see how this fellow pulls out the Demon Sealing Sword!”

“This isn’t right! Why is the kid absorbing the surrounding demonic-type spiritual liquid? Does he have a spatial magic treasure hidden on his person? Humph! What a greedy kid! He is thinking about collecting the demonic-type spiritual liquid!”

This time, the Longevity Tower did not reveal its full power. Instead, it leisurely absorbed the surrounding waters from the Demonic Spirit Fountain. It was seemingly giving Chen Feng the time to cultivate.

A pity, a pity! This Demonic Heavengorging Art is simply too inadequate. Not to mention, it is just a fragment. If it were not for that, I would have been able to cultivate it up to the small success phase long ago. Chen Feng felt somewhat depressed.

Despite having absorbed so much demonic energy, Chen Feng was constantly beset by the feeling that something was missing, resulting in his failure to gain a breakthrough for his cultivation of the Demonic Heavengorging Art. His many attempts had all ended with failure, causing a slight sense of anxiousness to rise within him.

Generally speaking, the more overbearing a cultivation technique was, the more it could affect a person’s heart. In that respect, the Demonic Heavengorging Art was an especially monstrous technique. Thus, Chen Feng, who was practicing the technique, felt a clump of flames burning within him. Streams of hot current kept assailing his mind.

At the same time, more demonic energy flowed into Chen Feng’s body, causing the state of his body to become even more chaotic. Traces of blood-red colour began flashing across his eyes and his countenance grew increasingly violent.

“Not good! Is he suffering from cultivation deviation? The Demonic Heavengorging Art is not something that can easily be cultivated,” whispered Thunder Hegemon, who was observing Chen Feng from afar.

Go all out! Chen Feng gritted his teeth. At the same time, he channelled the Longevity Scripture’s Heavengulping Absorption Technique. Due to that, a strange spectacle unfolded beside Chen Feng.

Two vortexes appeared, one in front and one behind. The one in front of Chen Feng was caused by the Demonic Heavengorging Art while the one behind was caused by the Heavengulping Absorption Technique. Meanwhile, there was an even bigger vortex on his glabella, caused by the Longevity Tower.

The vortex on his glabella was constantly absorbing the waters of the Demonic Spirit Fountain while the other two vortexes were absorbing the churning streams of demonic energy around him.

It was a most peculiar sight. However, when Thunder Hegemon saw that, his eyes lit up. 

“This kid’s cultivation base is low, but he is actually going to make the risky move of cultivating out three vortexes? Is he trying to die?” Thunder Hegemon’s heart grew anxious and he feared that Chen Feng would die from cultivation deviation, thereby leading to his failure to escape.

“Kid, have you gone mad? The Demonic Heavengorging Art is incomplete. Such a reckless move will definitely cause problems.” Tower’s voice rang out deep within Chen Feng’s soul.

“Humph! No matter what, I must let my cultivation of the Demonic Heavengorging Art break through!” Due to the effects of the two overbearing cultivation techniques, Chen Feng grew wilder. He ignored Tower’s warning and continued to accelerate the circulation rate of the two cultivation techniques.

“Ha!” Chen Feng abruptly shouted and the two vortexes, one in front of him and one behind him, disappeared all of a sudden. The two cultivation techniques circulated furiously within his body before quickly slamming against one another.

“Pu!”

Unsurprisingly, Chen Feng’s mouth opened up and he sprayed out a mouthful of hot blood.

The Demonic Heavengorging Art was the most overbearing cultivation technique in the Demon Plane while the Heavengulping Absorption Technique hailed from the Longevity Scripture, something that was even more powerful than immortal scriptures. The collision between the two cultivation techniques immediately resulted in a formidable force of rejection. The formidable power of the rejection caused Chen Feng to suffer from serious internal injuries.

Many of his meridians were torn and his internal organs were thrown into a state of disarray. It had been a long time since Chen Feng was this badly wounded.

“You’ve gone crazy, kid! You want these two Heaven-defying cultivation techniques to meld together? With your current level of strength, this is simply impossible. You should wait until you get the complete version of the Demonic Heavengorging Art before attempting this,” Tower hurriedly persuaded Chen Feng. He did not expect Chen Feng to make such a risky move.

Chen Feng’s meridians were damaged and various chaotic powers flowed about haphazardly within his body. He felt as though his whole body was on fire. It was extremely painful and unbearable.

“I won’t give in! Today, no matter what happens, I must succeed!” Both of Chen Feng’s eyes had turned bloodshot, resembling the sign of one about to suffer from cultivation deviation.

 

1 zhang = 3.333 m